Apparatus for accurate pneumatic separation of particles of a mass



June 20, 1939. H. M. SUTTON El AL 2,163,332

APPARATUS FOR ACCURATE PNEUMATIC SEPARATION OF PARTICLES OF A MASS Filed May 15, 1957 e Sheets-Sheet 1 June 20, 1939. H. M. SUTTON ET AL APPARATUS FOR ACCURATE PNEUMATIC SEPARATION OF PARTICLES OF A MASS Filed May 13, 1937 6 SheetsSheet 2 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 H. M SUTTON ET AL APPARATUS FOR ACCURATE PNEUMATIC.SEPARATION 0F PARTICLES OF A MASS Flled May 15 1937 June 20, 1939.

I 5 P IW K K 6 Shee'ts-Sheet 5 m Q NSPN June 20, 1939. H. M. SUTTQN ET AL APPARATUS FOR ACCURATE PNEUMATIC SEPARATION OF PARTICLES OF A MASS Filed May l5 1937 APPARATUS FOR ACCURATE PNEUMATIC SEPARATION OF PARTICLES OF AMASS June 20, 1939. H M. SUTTON ET AL 6 SheetsSheet 6 Filed May 13, 1937 O O O r O O O Patented June 20, 1939 UNITED STATES APPARATUS FOR ACCURATE PNEUMATIC SEPARATION OF PARTICLES OF A MASS Henry M. Sutton and Edwin G. Steele, Dallas, Tex.

Application May 13, 1937, Serial No. 142,512

. 7 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for accurate pneumatic separation of particles of a mass and the purpose of the improvement is the dry separation of values of a mass of material from the refuse of said mass, or vice versa, whether the mass be coal, ores, seeds, peanuts or other mass in which the particles have diflerent specific gravities. I

This improvement accomplishes the dry separation by passing air in an improved way through a reciprocating mass on a previous deck of suitable form, said deck having riflles-speaking generally-on its upper surface combined with baflie plates, and air controlled devices which are supported in an improved manner for the purpose described. Reference is here made to Patent Nos. 898,020, dated September 8, 1908, or 1,073,644, dated September 23, 1918, or 1,315,881, dated September 9, 1919, or 1,574,637, dated February 23, 1926, or 1,603,997, dated October 19, 1926, or 1,632,520, dated June 14, 1927, or

1,710,521, dated April 23, 1929, and in which.

patents the applicants are joint inventors.

All of these prior structures are operated according to the descriptions of their specifications, and they all contain the defect that the zones of separated material are never, sharply defined, notwithstanding a visual appearance may-make them seem to accomplish it. Substantially a complete separation has not been heretofore accomplishedbecause of the above referred to defeet. In fact a close inspection shows that there is a considerable amount of lighter particles mixed in the zone of heavier materials.

Where exact separations are demanded in these prior structures, it was necessary, by use of suitable dividing fingers, to cut from the table on each side of the zones a mixed product which has to either be returned to the feed of the table for further separation or retained in a separate bin and treated afterwards. In either case, the capacity of the table to deliver a finished product is diminished in proportion to the amount of this material that has to be reworked. Sometimes this is quite a considerable amount of the original feed to the separator. The reason for this action is the dead air areas caused by the supporting ribs under the pervious deck covering and caused by the riilles on the upper side of the same. We find however that the removal of the riilles do not mitigate against the evil, as will be explained later on.

It will be hereinafter specifically shown and described how and where these dead air spaces exist in' prior tables, and that these dead air spaces comprise approximately one-fourth of the whole separating space of the deck in said prior devices and which makes the importance thereof apparent when substantially exact separation is required.

In order to carry out our present improvement, instead of rigidly fastening the air control strips which are located under the pervious air deck as shown .in the aforementioned patents, we make these air controlling strips flexible so that when the machine is not in operation they automatically drop away from said deck, and so that the an automatically lifts them against the under side of said separating surface. The'purpose of this is that when the machine is not in operation the controlling strips automatically drop-as above stated-away from said separating surface, whereby any accumulated material can be blown away by applying and moving a small hand blower ovr the top of the pervious separating surface, thus preventing the accumulation of interfering material in and between said controlling strips and the pervious separating surface.

We also provide a novel baffle arrangement which is located in the throat of the air chest where it communicates with the enlarged chamber above. Theobject of this is to control the directions of the air to the under surface of the pervious air surface which causes the material being separated to be controlled in its movements on the deck surface as herein set forth.

We embody with the aforesaid improvement of cutting out the dead air spaces, by combining a new construction and arrangement of air controlling vanes located beneath the said pervious air deck-preferably separated from said deck though not necessarily-said vanes constructed and arranged to adjustably control the air from said. air chest to the said air spaces above the said pervious deck. When said vanes are combined with the omission of the dead air spaces above the pervious deck, improved results are accomplished.

Other purposes and objects will appear from the following description.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a deck which shows the new form of riffles. The-other features of the invention are not disclosed in said figure since they are below the deck.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view looking at a portion of the deck from the top and showing parts of two Times, the improved supports therefor and inclined air controlling vanes located below the deck and extending downward at adjustable angles.

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section through a part of the pervious deck showing the improved riflles above the deck and part of the vertical supports therefor located below the pervious deck.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the improved riflies the same broken away in the middle. Fig. 5 is a top plan view showing a section of the riflle supports.

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the frame-work of the deck, the pervious deck being removed, and also showing in plan view the air controlling members which are located in the throat of the air chest and below'the air bailles located across the upper end of the air chest, and showing by arrow the direction of the air passing over the said controlling members.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. '7 looking in the direction indicated by dotted line 8-8.

Fig. 9 is a transverse vertical section through the air chest taken on the dotted line 9-9 of Fig. 7 looking in the direction indicated by arrow.

Fig. 10 is a separate view of one of the air controlling members which is located in the throat of the air chest and also one of the sup- ,porting members for the same.

Fig. 10' is a separate end view of one of the members shown in Fig. 10.

Fig. 11 is a vertical sectional view' taken through part of the pervious deck and showing the details of the flexible air controlling strips which are located immediately below the riiiles and adjacent the said pervious deck.

Fig. 12 is aside elevation of the air chest and the deck showing means for detachably uniting the deck to the air chest.

Fig; 13 is a separate perspective view of one of the inclined air vanes shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 14 is a detached perspective view showing part of the deck frame-work and illustrating the detail construction of the supports for the pervious deck and the detail construction of the ends which are fastened to said deck frame.

Fig. 15 is a vertical section of part of a prior art deck, the action of the air for creating dead air spaces being shown by arrows.

Fig. 16 is a top plan view and Fig. 17 is a side view of another form of rifile.

Fig. 18 is a vertical section of the form of rifile shown in Figs. 16 and 17.

Referring now to the drawings, the improved riilies I are shown therein. These riflles differ from the rifiles of the prior art in that they are provided with relatively very small securing tabs 2. Referring to Fig.2 in which 3 represents the pervious deck and in which two of the riflles l are shown and also the fastening tabs or projections 2 are likewise illustrated, only a very small proportion of the pervious deck is illustrated. The deck does not differ essentially from the deck in the prior art patents.

It is necessary at this point in order to understand one part of the present improvement to state that the riilies I do not have any horizontal leg portion which is common in the prior art patents. The prior art riflie is particularly illustrated in Figures 10, 11 and 1'7 of prior art Patent No. 1,710,521 which has previously been referred to in this specification. By reference to spaces are present in the said patented construcportion of the foregoing explanation that we have had dead air tlon irrespective of whether the horizontal le riflle is present. For instance in Fig. 15 of the drawings in this application is shown the supports 4 for the pervious deck 3 which are of a width equal to the width 5 of the 5 riiiie above. The rii'iles shown in this Fig. 15 is of the solid form and also is of the L-shaped form. By reference to the arrows which indicate how the air passes through the deck 3 it will be observed that there is a dead space which is designated in the present Fig. 15 by D. This is a dead air space because substantially no air enters that space. In Fig. 15 the supports 4 for the deck 3 and the riiiles above these supports are shown in substantially the same relative full size as in a 15 full sized machine. It will be observed that in this view the riflle has its base portion substantially of a half inch width and this riffle runs throughout the length of the deck l-in these prior devices. Therefore one-fourth of the deck surface is composed of these dead air spaces in the prior art structures. It is one of the objects of the present invention to eradicate or eliminate these dead air spaces. This Fig. 15 therefore is a typical cross section of the separating decks known to the prior art; In this figure the air passses through the deck as shown by arrows and forms the dead air spaces D which are located above the said riflles and above the said supports 4. There is no air passing through the deck to these dead zones. By consulting these arrows it will be noted they show the air currents meeting over the top of the riflles. In this construction when any one of the old tables are in operation after the manner illustrated in Fig. 15, the material treated covers these riiiles to a certain depth where it flows transversely across the table. This material in the act of crossing each riflle encounters air currents passing up through the deck at each side thereof. This causes two actions to take place: first, the material lies dead on top of these riilie areas, as there is no air .cushion immediately underthem, and second, as

these particles start to drop off into the live air area below each riiiie the air currents coming upwardly on the lower side of each supporting rib, located below the said rii'iles lift or blow the particles back on top of the riiiles again. In the meantime. the differential reciprocation imparted to the deck is carrying this dead mass of material forwardly in these dead zones. of course, this only occurs for a short distance, as fresh material traveling transversely is constantly crowding this older material into the next live zone of air between the riifles. This action of course is repeated every time the material being treated crosses a rifile. We find the situation then to be as follows: Wehave a series of live and dead areas which run lengthwise of the table in line with its reciprocation, with the material on the live areas travelling at a' different rate of speed from that on the dead ones. Under these conditions it is impossible to maintain a sharp definition between the zones of the different materials.

It will be pointed out hereinafter that these dead zones or dead spaces by the present im-' provement are eliminated and it very materially incerases both the efficiency and the capacity of the machines. It will be understood from the 70 zones above the separating deck where the supporting members 4 are present and this irrespec tive of the formation of the rime itself. The dead air space will be present in either event.

Having described the presence of these dead 75 air spaces in the prior art we will now proceed to explain how thesedead air spaces are eliminated in the present improvement. By referring to Fig. 3, which is the construction shown in Fig.

2 so far as elimination of dead air spaces is concerned the riiiies I being made very narrow the air spaces are practically eliminated. The direction of the arrows in Fig. 3 shows this to be true and it is true notuonly because of the narrow riflles I but it is also true because of the narrow supports 6 for the pervious deck and the improved riiiies. These supports or plates 6, by reference to Fig. 5, have intermediate U-shaped or half-round portions 1 and two of these plates are spaced side by side with the U portion in alignment and this forms a circle which receives the supports 8 for the riflle and the pervious deck. This support 8 preferably consists of hard wood. It is round and it fits in the grooved portions I. This brings two of the plates together and these plates are spot-welded together preferably after the wooden supports 8 are placed therein. In oroer to hold these supports in place the curved portions I are indented as at 9 into the wood. A suitable number of these indentations are made which will hold the supports against endwise movement in the curved portions of these plates 6. For the purpose of strengthening these plates and holding them from warping out of alignment horizontally the plates may be corrugated outwardly as shown at l and these corrugations in the plates are preferably in a line with each other thus formingvhollow braces for the plates. Combined with this construction the tabs or fastenings 2 of the riflles I are provided and located directly above the upper ends of the supports 8 and these rifiies are attached by these fastening tabs to the supports 8 by screws II passing through the said tabs into the wooden supports 8. By reference particularly to Fig. 3 as well as Figs. 2 and 11 it will be seen that a space I2 is left between the upper edges of the plates 6 and the under side of the deck surface 3. This is for the purpose of enabling a free unimpeded passage or circulation of air under the wholesubstantially-surface of the deck 3. This is the preferred form though under some conditions it may be advisable to run the plates 6 throughout substantially the whole length of the supports 8.

From the above description it will be observed that we have eliminated the dead air spaces due to the rifiles and which are due to the supporting ribs of the prior art, thereby increasing the capacity by enabling all of the material to be subjected to the separating action of the air and the reciprocation of the deck. The net effect of this is an increase in capacity and efficiency to the extent of substantially one-fourth. The increased efficiency is due largely to obtaining sharply defined zone lines of separation through the elimination of the dead air spaces.

Another improvement pertains to the air controlling members which are located immediately below the deck. It has previously been stated that these air controlling members are made flexible instead of rigid. The action of these air controlling members is readily understood by reference to Fig, 11. One of these members I3 is shown down which is the position occupied by it when the machine is not in operation. That is to say, there is no air passing through the pervious deck. By reference to the other air control ling element I3 in the said Fig. 11, air is shown passing through the machine and this member I3 is shown up against the perforated deck 3 where it remains as long as the mechanism is in operation. When it ceases to operate then all of these air controlling members fall downward. The reason for making these members flexible is to enable the removal of any collection of material in the air controlling members or between them and the pervious deck. When the machine is not in operation any possible accumulation of fine material can be blown by moving a handblower over the deck and blowing through it at the proper places. This will remove any accumulation of particles which may happen to collect in or between the air controlling members I3. By reference to Fig. 11 it will be noted that we provide a mosquito net I3 below the air controlling members I3. The object of this-is to hold the air controlling members in position for automatic operation. The mosquito netting being so porous there will be no accumulation of material therein.

Another feature of the present invention pertains to vanes which are placed below the deck as represented at H. These vanes have their lower ends provided with U-shaped members I5 which grasp the lower edges of the plates 6 and are suitably clamped thereto. They extend upward and rearwardly towards the back rail I6 of the table. They extend approximately from the lower portions of the curved members I of the supports 6 to approximately near the upper portions of the support which is located back of the plate. Their ends are here shown as not extending any higher than the plates 6 though of course this may be varied. These vanes can be bent in eitherdirection for the purpose of varying and controlling the passage of the air. Their main function is to deflect the air rearward or backward on the table and they are capable of adjustment for that purpose.

he only change made by us in the air baflling which is shown in Figs. 8 and 9 that is located L at the throat of the chest consists in providing two sets of air controlling members, one set I'I being adapted to feed the air towards the feed end of the table and the other set l8 arranged at right angles to the set I1 and arranged tocause the air to flow towards the delivery end of the table. These baffles are individually adjustable. The baflles I! and I8 are specifically of the same construction. This construction is shown in Figs.

10 and 10'. These members have screws l9 passing through supporting members and into the thickened portion 2| of the vanes II. In this manner these vanes can be individually adjusted to throw the air to get the best possible result.

In Fig. 14 the supports or plates 6 have their ends 22 bent laterally in opposite directions and fastened to the deck supporting frame 23 by screws, as clearly shown in Fig. 14.

In the top of the air chest 4' is arranged a baflle plate 24 which is constructed to cause the air to flow backward towards the feed end of the deck as shown by arrows in Fig. 8. This positions the said baffle plate 24 just below the air controlling vanes I4 and these air vanes further cause the air toflow backward toward the feed end of the deck.

It will be understood from the immediately foregoing description that the air lips of the 'bafile 24 can be bent at the desired angle and this that may arise by reason of the diil'erencein the material being separated.

Attention is also directed to Fig. 1 wherein there is a pervious unobstructed space 25 into which the heavy particles of material being separated is caused to flow and the outer wall 26 of this pervious portion is what is known in this art as a banking bar. The heavy particles of the material flow through the pervious space 25 down to the outlets 21 of which two are here shown. Theseoutlets are of the common form and they may be adjusted to release the heavy particles and after being released they may be conveyed to any desired place. Two outlets 21 which are commonly referred to in the art as gates, is the normal number but we wish it understood that the number in some instances is increased and therefore any desired number of outlet gates can be arranged without departing from the spirit of the invention. These gates may be of any desired form and therefore no particular construction of gate is here shown.

In Fig. 12 we show the deck I which is sup ported by a deck frame 23 in the manner which has beeri described hereinbefore and which is particularly shown herein in Figs. 1, 7 and 12. This deck frame 23 is detachably connected with the air chest 4' by means of the usual hook and lever construction 29, the end of the hook engaging in an opening of members 30. In this manner the deck can be detached and attached for any purpose desired. The baille plate 24 may be either attached to the upper end of the air chest 4' or it may be carried by the-lower end of the deck frame 23. The pervious deck 3, the riiiles I and the supports 6 and 8 for the above mentioned parts are all carried by the deck frame so that when the deck frame is detached these parts are carried with it,

Referring to Fig. 1 again attention is directed to the impervious portion 3| .of the deck which is located outside and beyond the banking bar 26 and a skirt iron 32 is. located at the lower side of the deck from which the separated coal or other material flows while the heavy particles pass out through the gates 21.

We have shown our present improvement herein applied to a deck which is triangular in plan view. However, the imrovements can be applied to any type of deck that is shown in the patents which are enumerated herein. One of these patents, No. 1,710,521 shows what is known in the art -mass flow in. opposite directions from opposite sides of the said deck. This is clearly understood from the patent itself. The present improvements are adapted to be applied to this form of deck as well as any other form of deck without departing from the'spirit and scope of the present improvements.

In Figs. 11, 16, 17 and 18 we show another form of riiiie which is used when separating certain classes of products. This form of riiile has the following advantages over the form previously deleaving transversely extending openings through which round headed nails 11 tightly pass, the said nail being long enough to be driven into the wood bosses 8, thus holding said riiiie tightly in edge engagement with the upper surface of the pervious deck 3. This construction therefore leaves the delivery or working or forward side 1) toward the feed with a plain and smooth face.

It will be observed that a riiiie thus constructed is in perfect vertical alignment with the deck supporting plates or members 8 which are below the riiile, while with the other form-Figure 3- it is at one side of said support 6 and at one side of the supporting bosses 8. This places said air controlling strips in advance of 'said supporting members 6 and bosses 8, which throws the riiiles out of vertical line with these supporting members. It is important that said air controlling strips be practically entirely on the upper side of the riilles facing the delivery of the feed to the table. Therefore when using said air strips it is preferable to use this type of riiile with them. Also, where it may be necessary to extend the supporting ribs 6 substantially in contact with the under side of said pervious deck surface, then it is preferable to have the riiiies on top of the deck register with the ribs 8, which is accomplished by the form of riille here described.

While we .have disclosed our present improvement embodying the wooden members 8, we do not limit ourselves strictly to this construction. It is advisable in some instances that the wooden members 8 be substituted by members composed of other material. Also we desire it understood that while in the constructions here shown and specifically described these wooden members or bosses 8 extend beyond the members i, the said,

It is inthis type of construction that placed so that they can be bent up to within..

a close distance of the under side of the deck surface. This directs the. air currents diagonally rearward against the under side of the deck to produce an effect like that produced in the aforementioned Patent No. 1,574,637.

Again, we do not wish to limit this invention to the use of the wooden pins or bosses 8 which support the deck cover, for in some arts in which our tables are now being used the material undergoing treatment is handled at a temperature of from two hundred to four hundred degrees, notably in such industries as the oil refineries where they are used to remove the deleterious material from. fullers earth right from the drying kilns. This earth is used to purify the oil at these industries. In applications of this kind light metal rods are substituted for the wooden pins as shown and the entire table is built of metal.

This invention which eliminates the dead air spaces permits of very exact separations being made. In the seed industry for instance, there are seed stock that contain obnoxious weed seed that severely penalize these stocks, and the removal of these obnoxious seed has to be practically one hundred percent. So severe are the laws in some States in respect to these seeds, that as many as nine pest seed to the pound of good stock will cause a reject of the seed shipment.

By eliminating the dead air spaces we are enabled to add approximately twenty percent to the active air area without increasing the total area of the deck. This is a tremendous advantage because it at once greatly increases the capacity of a deck of any given size by eliminating the dead air spaces thereof. Again, these dead air spaces or pockets are found to trap mixtures of materials and permit such mixtures to be propelled forward into deck areas into which they should not pass and cause the constant remixing of materials during separation processes. This new construction therefore both increases the tonnage capacity and the efliciency of the separation as compared with the prior separating tables.

While we show the air controlling vanes ll composed of separate elements in Fig. 2, we wish it understood that these vanes may be formed from a sheet of metal and the vanes or lips bent upward as shown in said figure. The construction here shown is preferred because it is regarded as cheaper to construct.

We wish it understood that variations and changes may be made in the constructionswhich have been herein described without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as appears from the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for the separation of a mass composed of particles havingdiiferent specific gravities, comprising a pervious deck on which the said mass is fed, means feeding air through the said deck to the said mass, riiiles above the said deck composed of vertical portions having horizontally extending separated fastening tabs, supporting means below the deck consisting of vertical thin portions carrying slightly enlarged members located under the said fastening tabs of the riilles, and means passing through said tabs into the said members whereby the formation of dead air spaces above the deck is prevented, for the purpose set forth.

2. A pneumatic separating apparatus for separating a mass composed of particles of different specific gravities, a pervious deck receiving the mass to be separated, means below the deck feeding air upward through it and the said mass, a plurality of riflles above the said pervious deck consisting of thin vertically extending portions having relatively small horizontally extending fastening tabs, supports under the deck consisting of thin vertical portions having separated horizontal members located under the said fastening tabs whereby the formation of air spaces in the mass above the deck is avoided with the advantages herein set forth.

3. A pneumatic dry separating apparatus, comprising a pervious deck, means for feeding a mass of material on the deck which is composed of particles having different specific gravities, a plurality of riflles above the deck consisting of narrow vertical portions with separated fastening tabs at their lower ends, supports for the pervious deck below it and consisting of very th n vertical'members with enlarged portions arranged under the said tabs of the riiiles and a plurality of air vanes located under the deck and between the said enlarged portions of the supporting memher, said air vanes arranged to cause a backward feeding of air to the deck, for the purpose set forth.

4. A separating apparatus for separating masses composed of particles having diiierent specific gravities, comprising a pervious deck, means for feeding the mass on the deck, riflies above the deck consisting of thin vertical portions with laterally extending separated small fastening tabs, an air chest below, supports in the upper end of the said air chest for the said deck and riifies, said supports consisting of thin vertical portions with small relatively enlarged separated projections located under the fastening tabs, rearwardly inclined vanes arranged below the said deck and extending between the said enlarged portions of the support, a horizontal baiile plate under the aforesaid construction the battle plate feeding air upwardly and bafiie plates located in the lower portion of the said air chest and controlling the amount and direction of air fed to the baiile plate above, the parts so arranged for the purpose set forth.

5. A separating apparatus for the purpose of separating a mass composed of particles having different specific gravities, comprising an air chamber, a pervious deck at the upper end of said air chamber supports for and below said deck, riflles on the said deck, a pervious air controlling and regulating means below the said riiiles and above the said supports, said air controlling means movable automatically in firm contact with the said pervious deck when the same is in operation and automatically moving away from the deck when the separator is not in operation, for the purpose set forth.

6. A pneumatic dry separator for separating a mass composed of particles having different specific gravities, comprising a pervious deck provided with openings throughout the whole surface to prevent forming dead air spaces thereon, supporting means for said deck located thereunder, said suporting means consisting of vertically arranged thin members, said vertical members carrying separated horizontal portions slightly larger than the said vertical portions, riiiles on top of said deck having tabs on the lower edges at points corresponding with said enlargements for attachment and support of said pervious deck and said tabs to the enlargements, thereby preventing dead air spaces forming in the mass above the said supports.

7. A separating apparatus for the purpose of separating a mass composed of particles having different specific gravities, comprising an air chamber, a pervious deck at the uper end of said air chamber, thin vertical supports under the deck to support it, riflles on the said deck attached to said supports, air controlling means below the said deck and said riflles and above the said supports, said air controlling means consisting of flexible members extending longitudinally the riflles and having one edge attached to the lower edge of said riflles, said means automatically laying upward against said deck while in operation and falling away from said deck when not in operation, for the purpose described.

HENRY M. SUTTQN. EDWIN G. STEELE. 

